Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s4.t5: IV. Muslim Masses
Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s4.t5
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IV. Muslim Masses
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It was somewhat difficult to distinguish the lower classes of Muslims from the masses of Hindus. Most of them were originally Hindu converts to Islam, which had not materially altered their social position, although it may have improved it in some cases. The Sultans may have been somewhat indulgent to the Muslim masses, on certain occasions, but this is by no means certain.¹ With his conversion to Islam the average Muslim did not change his old environment, which was deeply influenced by caste distinctions and a general social exclusiveness. As a result Indian Islam slowly began to assimilate the broad features of Hinduism. The various classes of which the Muslim community was composed began to live aloof from one another even in separate quarters in the same city.² On the other hand the honour and respect paid to the foreign ruling and privileged classes gave to the foreign and non-Indian extraction of a Muslim, the highest claims to social distinction. People began to discover for themselves as far as possible a foreign ancestry.³
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¹ For instance the massacres of Timur were indiscriminate, without any regard for those of Muslim faith. The Sultans usually neglected the religious divisions of the people. Compare K.K., 881 for instance, where ‘Ala-ud-din spares the life of Muslim prisoners while he orders others to be trampled to death.
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² Compare for instance, the description of a new colony in Mukand-ram. Gupta, Bengal, etc. pp. 91-92.
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³ Compare I.G.I.: Vol. II, 329 for modern conditions in Muslim society of India :---After emphasizing the democratic nature of the teachings of Islam, the writer proceeds :---‘In India, however, caste is in the air; its contagion has spread even to the Mohammedans, and we find its evolution proceeding on characteristically Hindu lines. In both communities foreign descent forms the highest claim to social distinction; in both promotion cometh from the west. As the twice born Aryan is to the mass of Hindus, so is the Mohammadan of alleged Arab, Persian, Afghan, or Mughal origin to the rank and file of his co-religionists. And just as in the traditional Hindu system men of the higher groups could marry women of the lower, while the converse process was vigorously condemned, so within the higher ranks of the Mohammadans, a Sayyid will marry a Sheikh’s daughter but will not give his daughter in return; and intermarriage between the upper circle of soi-disant foreigners and the main body of Indian Mohammadans is generally reprobated, except in parts of the country where the aristocratic element is small and must arrange its marriages as best it can......the lower functional groups......are organized on the model of regular castes, with councils and officers which enforce the observance of caste rules by the time-honoured sanction of boycotting.’ Compare also the estimate of Senart, 219; of Havell, History of Aryan Rule, 162-163.